Learning

St Stephen’s Educational Vision

At Stephen’s we use contemporary practice to empower students to develop a love of learning. We foster success and exemplary values. Through collaboration in an inclusive, nurturing environment, we shape citizens for the future.

Curriculum

At St Stephen’s School there are nine Curriculum Areas taught to the students. The Australian curriculum followed by St Stephen's Catholic School is guided by the Key Learning Areas (KLAs) of: Religious Education; English; Mathematics; Science; History; Geography; The Arts; Technology; Languages Other Than English; and Health and Physical Education.

The setting and maintaining of high academic standards are the shared responsibility of the Class Teachers and the Principal.

School routine

Children are welcome to come to school at 8.30am when playground supervision begins.

Excursions, Camps & Trips

Classes may go on an excursion to supplement work, which is being explored in the classroom. For example, if a class is studying a unit based on the ocean, the class may make a trip to SeaWorld. Costs are kept at a reasonable level.

Each year the Year 6 students attend a three-day camp. The cost for this is usually about $300 - $350. During the year the students fundraise to supplement this.

Homework

Homework may be set for all year levels but the work itself and its frequency will be geared towards the capabilities of the children and range in difficult from the collection of pictures for charts to the compilation of written reports supported by pictures, maps, diagrams, etc. The School Board has developed a Homework Policy, click here to download.

Library

At St Stephen’s, the library is at the centre of our school. It enriches the educational development of all students and aids the teachers in their planning, resourcing and teaching.

The development of a positive reading culture in our school is at the heart of our library service. The library provides students with access to an abundance of quality literature and aims to develop and nurture a love of reading in them all. We want their reading experiences to be positive and to promote a lifelong love of learning. Throughout the year, opportunities to broaden reading experiences are provided by visits from authors and illustrators, participation in Book Week activities and our annual Book Fair.

Students visit the library each week with their classroom teacher and participate in library lessons where the focus is on the effective and responsible use of information. Students access information in a variety of formats: both print and digital. With the emergence of online learning resources students are encouraged to access these both at school and at home.

Library lessons also provide opportunities for students to experience a variety of digital technologies in a fun way. Digital toys, games and robotics give students a taste of the fast growing world of coding and robotics.

Students also visit the library weekly to browse and borrow their books for the week. Students are encouraged to keep their books in their library bag. School vinyl bags, which provide maximum protection for books, are available from the school at a cost of $6.00.

All learning resources, both physical and digital, are managed through the library and may be accessed by all students and their families. In addition, the library has a small parent library which offers a variety of titles around ideas for parents. Our community swap library is available to staff and parents. The ‘take a book … bring a book’ concept allows for the sharing of books throughout our community.

Student Support

Class Teachers can access additional support for students in their class through initially consulting with the Learning Support Teacher. Access to specialists such as a Speech Language Pathologist, Occupational Therapist or Inclusion Coach are available through the Toowoomba Catholic Schools Office following a referral process through the school’s Student Support Committee. Referral can also be made using the same process to the School Counsellor, who is available one day per week at the school.

The Learning Support Teacher is available to help students by:

• identifying learning difficulties
• planning with classroom teachers with regards to appropriate adjustments and modifications of curriculum programs to address learning needs
• planning and organising resources
• direct intervention in literacy and numeracy with small groups
• membership of the Student Support Committee.
• referring students through the Principal to other agencies for specialist help and to liaise with these specialists.
• monitoring the progress of identified students
• administering the school wide standardized testing program.

Technology

To be successful members of a modern society, we all require the knowledge, skills and confidence to interact with digital technologies at school, at home, and in our communities. For our children, this need is growing daily.

At St Stephen’s, students’ learning is enhanced every day by a variety of digital tools. Class sets of laptops and iPads are available for both the junior school and upper school classes. Through these devices, students have access to a wide variety of online learning tools. Every classroom is fitted with an interactive projector which is used by teachers to improve student engagement and participation.

Technology knowledge and skills are also being taught specifically during specialist lessons. These lessons are based around the Australian Curriculum: Technologies learning area, which is divided into two related areas of study.

Design and Technologies, where students are encouraged to think about and design solutions to problems that exist in the world around them, and how these solutions might improve our future lives.

Digital Technologies, where students are engaged in computational thinking, creating and building these solutions using technologies including coding and robotics.